This article is not intended to
authoritative on the finer points of Mauser rifles---
a subject to which entire books, such as the excellent
works of Messrs. Olson and Ball, are devoted without
remotely exhausting the topic; rather, it is simply
a brief overview of the place Mausers and Mosins
have held in Turkish firearms history over the past
century or so.

Though not especially innovative
in firearms development themselves the Turks, throughout
their history, have been quick to adopt the latest
in weapons technology whenever circumstances permitted.
Their recognition of the advantages of the cannons
firepower, even in its infancy, led them to employ
the most modern European artillery and professional
gunners to storm Constantinople in May of 1453, thus
completing their conquest of the Byzantine Empire.
When the superiority of the Mauser system became
evident in the 1880s the Ottoman Empire was among
the first countries to place orders for the new rifle,
so beginning a long and mutually-beneficial relationship
with the German firm.

Turks at the outbreak
of WW1

The first Turkish
order for bolt-action Mausers, in February 1887,
was for 500,000 M1887 rifles and 50,000 carbines,
both in 9.5 mm. Although the Berlin firm Ludwig Loewe & Co.
was to have produced almost half of the order, the
entire contract was filled by Mauser.

As anyone who has
read the Mauser classics knows, the Turks had a very
shrewd deal giving them the option to require Mauser
to alter production to include any updated features
or improvements which may have been developed during
the term of the contract. Indeed, the Turkish terms
were so advantageous to them that, if the German
military adopted an entirely new model during the
contract period, the Turks could require Mauser to
substitute it for those rifles already in production.
As it happened, the Turks actually did have Mauser
cease production of the M1887 in favor of a 7.65
mm rifle based on ---but not identical to--- the
Belgian Mauser M1889. About 220,000 of the M1887
rifles had been made prior to the changeover, and
about 280,000 of the new Turkish model, the M90,
were made by Mauser under the existing contract.
Some of the new version were carbines, but the number
is uncertain.

Turk soldiers taking
a break from battle

Ever alert for improvements
in their armaments, the Turks were sufficiently impressed
by Mausers M1893, made for Spain, to order
some themselves. The Turkish M93 differs from the
Spanish model principally in having a magazine cutoff
--- a fundamentally useless feature which was trendy
for a brief time at the end of the 19th and beginning
of the 20th centuries.

As with all pre-1928
Turkish items, these early Mausers are identifiable
by the Ottoman Turkish writing ---in Arabic script---
on the side rail and elsewhere, and by the Arabic
numbers on the rear sight leaf and many of the smaller
parts. The crescent moon, a classic Turkish symbol
going back many hundreds of years, is also commonly
found on these rifles. Some Turkish rifles also are
stamped with a toughra, which is an ornamental monogram
consisting of the reigning sultans name and
a few of his titles; this is also found on some Turkish
bayonets of the era. It is quite difficult ---though
it is possible, with experience--- to distinguish
the toughra of individual sultans as the writing
is highly stylized, the titles do not change much,
and many of the sultans had the same name: Mehmet
Vs toughra looks very much like that of Mehmet
VI, and both look a lot like that of Abdul Hamid
II.

When the immensely
successful Mauser Model 98 had proved its worth the
Turks ordered their own version, the M1903. This
rifle was in Turkeys now-standard caliber 7.65
mm, and had a number of features which differentiated
it from Germanys new military rifle, the otherwise
very similar 7.9 mm Gewehr 98. As with earlier models,
the easiest way to identify the Turkish version is
by the old-style Turkish writing and Arabic numbers,
although the stock, nosecap, and charger clip guide
are also distinctive. During this period the Turks
also acquired a number of ex-German M98 and M88 rifles
in the standard German 7.9 mm caliber. About this
time a carbine with the M98 action, fully-stocked
to the muzzle, was adopted as the M1905.

During World War I
the standard Turkish military long arm was the M1903
Mauser although the other Mausers mentioned above
were also used, as were additional Model 98s supplied
to the Turks by their German ally. In addition to
the Brothers Mausers gift to human betterment
the Turks made use of Russias Mosin-Nagant
7.62 mm M1891 rifle. The Turks acquired these weapons
by two methods: capture from the Russians during
the bitter fighting in eastern Anatolia, mostly in
1915, and as war-aid from the Germans, who captured
huge quantities of them in Europe on the Eastern
Front. Many of the German-supplied Mosins had been
altered to fire the standard German 7.9 x 57 mm military
round, easing supply and logistics problems for the
Turks. These Russian rifles in the original caliber
were used largely in eastern Anatolia, where there
was always the possibility that more ammunition and
rifles could be captured from the Russians. Mosins,
evidently of both calibers, were also used on the
Southern Front in Palestine. Why Turkish units in
the Holy Land should have been so blessed is a mystery.
As ever, many of these rifles can be identified as
Turkish by their Arabic numbers, crescents, etc.

When the anti-Bolshevik
forces of Wrangel, Kolchak, Denikin and others were
defeated in the Russian Civil War many fleeing White
Guards crossed the border into neutral Turkey in
the years 1919-20, bringing their Mosins with them
and surrendering them to the Turks. These rifles
joined the ones already in Turkish hands and remained
in inventory as reserve rifles until at least the
later1940s. It is entirely possible that many of
these Mosins were used in fighting the Italians and
Greeks in Anatolia immediately after World War I,
and during the Turkish Civil War of the early 1920s.

During the early 1920s
the Turks, their enthusiasm for Mauser products evidently
enhanced by wartime experience, placed orders with
Ceskoslovenska Zbrojovka, A.S. , the Mauser firms
post-war successor in Brno, Czechoslovakia, for the
rifle now generally known as the M1922, essentially
just a slightly modernized Gewehr 98. They also purchased
Mauser ammunition from a number of sources, including
the new munitions industries in Poland.

The mid-1930s found
the Turks with adequate resources to update their
now considerable supply of Mausers; this updating
consisted in part of reworking the old 7.65 mm rifles
to standardize them to the more common 7.9 mm caliber.
As modern rifles were now more compact the Turks
also shortened many of their old Mausers, which ranged
in length from 1240 mm to 1250 mm (48.8 in. - 49.2
in.), to approximately the length of Germanys
K98k (1110 mm/43.7 in.). The modernization program
continued into the early 1950s, and was undertaken
at the arsenal in Kirikkale, an industrial suburb
of the Turkish capital, Ankara, although some work
may also have been done elsewhere.

With huge numbers
having been imported in the past several years, the
many variations of Turkish Mausers are now very common
in this country and provide a satisfying area for
collectors and shooters to indulge themselves in
fascinating historical fun at extremely reasonable
prices.

Terence Lapin

Note From
Tuco: There is some evidence from Kevin Carney
of MCC that the G stamp found on some M91 Mosin
Nagant rifles may be a Turkish marking. It
is unknown if this is correct at this time or not
but there is at least some leaning in this direction.